IRON ore declined for a fifth consecutive session on oversupply fears after Beijing confirmed a substantial reduction in steel production, the inaugural shipment from Guinea’s Simandou mine reached China, and port inventories expanded.
Futures dropped below $104 per ton, marking the longest losing streak since November, said Bloomberg News on Monday. Steel output in China, the world’s largest iron ore importer, contracted by more than 4% to approximately 961 million tons in 2025, official data showed on Monday. The figure represents the lowest annual total since 2018.
The first cargo from Simandou arrived in eastern China on Saturday, with a second shipment also en route, said Bloomberg News citing Baowu Steel Group’s WeChat account. The mine’s ramp-up will broaden options for steelmakers despite China’s declining alloy production. Simandou is expected to achieve annual output of 120Mt once fully operational.
Iron ore inventories at Chinese ports rose for seven consecutive weeks to 155.4Mt, the highest level since April 2022, according to Shanghai SteelHome E-Commerce. The increase followed record imports last month even as steel output slowed.
“Chinese iron ore port inventory is set to balloon,” Robert Rennie, head of commodity research at Westpac Banking Corp, told the newswire. That development, combined with record imports, represents “bad news” for iron ore, he added.
World iron ore trade is projected at 1.77 billion tons this year, according to Australian government estimates.
